I truly enjoyed reading Joy Hakim's book. I have always been a trivia buff, and this book certainly was a treasure of information for me. I have taught lessons on many of the topics that Joy shared in her book, and I look forward to incorporating this new information into my lessons. I loved her technique of sharing historical information in a narrative instead of the lists and third person point of view that is used in typical textbooks. I think my fifth graders would love her style and would be more excited to learn about some of the events of this time period if it was presented in this new approach.
Joy certainly seems to be a writer with a sense of humor! Her stories certainly capture some of the more unusual and funny events that happened during a very serious time in history. I love some of her clever titles ("Party on, George", "Senior Citizen's Arrest", and "They Called It Macaroni"......!). I learned that Thomas Jefferson was a fiddler, asked his secretary William Short to buy him a pasta maker in Europe, and was 6 feet 2 inches tall....! I certainly wouldn't learn these unique and unusual facts in a regular text.
Hakim also used primary sources throughout her text. This connects with our readings on brain studies and how people learn. As a classroom teacher, I could use her examples of primary sources in the text as a springboard for hands-on activities in the classroom. It is a reference that I feel would have many applications. After reading this text, it is a bit unattractive to use texts that are presented in a dry, unengaging style like our typical textbooks.
